This film, I feels, combines what you want to see in a film. It is a strong story, has good acting, and is visually beautiful to watch.

The story is that of J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. It follows his process of creating the story and his inspiration for it. He goes from down in the dumps, having had some success as a playwright, but he his most recent works have been panned. He finds his muse, so to speak, in a family with three boys. Their father has died, and they have had to grow up too quickly.

It works with the characters as well the difference between Peter, a young boy who is very mature of his age, and J.M. Barrie who is a grown man but still acts at times like an immature little boy. Freddie Highmore gives a very good performance as Peter, showing that he is a very good young actor and should have a good career ahead of him. Johnny Depp does a good job of playing the more immature adult figure with his normal set of quirks that fit perfectly for the character. As one would imagine, they do learn from each other and much of the film focuses on this aspect. They end up bonding and creating a relationship that is worth seeing.

Visually this film is done beautifully. It transitions between reality and the mind of J.M. Barrie and the two boys. The shots are colorfully created and arenít just big grand shots that some films tend to stick to, but it combines the beautiful scenery with more intimate shots. It also uses a wonderful fade to white at the end. Normally films fade to black, but with the feeling of the last scene, this film is willing to buck what is the standard convention and offer something more.

The best part about this film is the message. Some people get confused by the pseudo-romantic tryst that J.M. Barrie seems to be having with the mother of the boys. The real idea of this film is the idea of creativity and the loss of creativity that people tend to have as they get older. Everything in life becomes structured. People donít have that time, and at times the ability, to make that creative decision or action anymore. It is something that is sad to see being lost as people age. This film really puts the two characters, Peter and J.M. Barrie, not really saying that either is the ideal but placing them opposite to each other and saying that a fully mature person loses some ability to have fun but as compared to the place where J.M. Barrie is at, he isnít capable of being mature and responsible. The film would say that there needs to be some sort of balance between the two.

Entertainment Grade: A

Critical Grade: A

Overall Grade: A+

Just a little on my grading technique. Iíve found that a single grade for a film is really not enough. A film can be terrible but be extremely entertaining. Or a film can be extremely well done but very boring. So there needs to be a separate grade for the two. If you want to know how the various letter grades will break down:

* A+ Ė A-: I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys any sort of film and probably worth buying.
* B+ Ė B-: It was very entertaining and is worth checking out but I wonít say you should buy it, it will depend on your taste.
* C+ Ė C-: If it is in a genre that you like, youíll enjoy the film. Most likely just worth a rental though.
* D+ Ė D-: Not really worth watching, but it could be entertaining if you really love the genre, but that is a major maybe, I probably just saved you from wasting time.
* F: Donít watch, if you do, you likely will regret it and wish you had that time back in your life and most likely will feel dumber for having seen it._________________

Last edited by The Gnat on Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:35 am; edited 14 times in total

I can't imagine this movie having any better than a C in the entertainment category. It's precisely the type of molasses entertainment that turns people away from finishing it.

The only thing I really loved about this movie was the score and the kid actor who ended up doing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next.

It definitely isn't a fast paced movie, but it is extremely character driven and it is about the mindset of the characters. Probably not going to be a favorite on a football forum when you consider the pace of a football game. But I'm a writer and this story is very well told from a writers perspective with good performances and very well shot._________________

It definitely isn't a fast paced movie, but it is extremely character driven and it is about the mindset of the characters. Probably not going to be a favorite on a football forum when you consider the pace of a football game. But I'm a writer and this story is very well told from a writers perspective with good performances and very well shot.

My wife might love this one. She's a writer, english major and former film student.

Good review and I agree with all the points. Its a very underrated film and one of my favorite films of the decade. I love the message about creativity and its fun to watch Depp play Barrie. Beautiful ending btw, almost had me in tears. almost.

This film gets the unfortunate labeling a teen comedy. In a world of films like Superbad being the standard, the subtle humor and drama blended together donít match up the to raunchy expectations for this film.

Set in the summer of 1987, the story is about James Brennan, a college graduate whoís father has lost his job because of alcoholism. Gone are Brennanís plans for a Europe trip that summer with a college buddy, and fading is the likelihood that heíll be able to go to grad school. He takes a summer job at an amusement park, Adventureland, where he spends the rest of his summer. The story then delves into some funny moments, but it is really about the development of Brennanís character along with the relationships he develops with Em, Lisa P, Mike Connell, and Joel.

Jesse Eisenberg stars in this film as Brennan. He and Michael Cera have this awkward sweet boy persona that shows up in every film that they do. His work since then in an action comedy Zombieland even has that same feel. You feel sorry for the kid because he doesnít have it all together and that is the type of role that Eisenberg is made for playing, the slightly awkward college kid. Kristen Stewart stars opposite of him as Em, a somewhat out of control and messed up coworker of his. She has a very bleak outlook on life and is almost overly dramatic but still less overly dramatic than in Twilight. Bill Hader, Matt Bush, and Martin Starr provide most of the comedy in this film. Hader is just absurd and Bush provides much of the physical comedy in this film. Starr has a bigger role as his character, Joel, becomes a good friend of Brennan throughout the film. He has a lot of great lines in the film many of them very sarcastic and intelligent. A subtle type of humor that films of this alleged genre arenít supposed to have. Margarita Levieva plays the girl, Lisa P, who everyone wants to go out with. A beauty who seems like the girl next door. Levieva is a good actress and in this role she doesnít get a ton of screen time, but she plays her character very well. Ryan Reynolds is probably the biggest name (well, maybe Stewart if you are a 14 year old girl) in this film. He plays the guy who is too cool for his own good. He has swagger and talks about everything amazing that he has done earlier in his life even though he just repairs the rides when they break down now. He is supposed to rub you the wrong way, and he does a very good job of it.

This film does a good job of creating the eighties. With the greatest hits of the eighties playing in the background and the poor style choices of the eighties on full display, this film just seems right. Greg Mottola, the director of Superbad which is why the two are so closely compared, does a good job with this film. He takes it on in a different way (and he wrote this one as well as directed it). This isnít the romp/last party before college. This is after college, this is when real life is about to set in. Even with grad school in Brennanís future, he has to be more serious. And Mottola does a good job of creating this more subtle teen-angst (or college-angst as the case may be) comedy.

I understand why many people didnít like it. Iím thankful I didnít see it in theaters and had heard some about it before going to see it. If I had been expecting to see Superbad after college, I would have been very disappointed. But knowing what type of film it was, I enjoyed it a lot.

Neil Marshallís first film and possibly my favorite film of his. This is really a B sort of horror film with werewolves, but a great B horror film. It doesnít really launch into a new area of werewolves like Ginger Snaps, but it keeps in the classic werewolves, and is all about fighting them off.

It starts with a routine, boring, military exercise in the middle of Scotland. Things start to go wrong when they find the remains of another special ops team that has been torn apart. They see werewolves out in the woods and they take refuge in a small cabin where Megan lives in her family cabin. The werewolves circle around the house and the soldiers are forced to fight them off and try and find a way to escape, because they arenít within range to contact anyone else. They make an attempt for a vehicle in a barn, but that fails. When their ammunition starts to run low they find out that Megan hasnít been completely honest about why she lives out int he house.

The acting in this film isnít all that impressive, Emma Cleasby plays Megan, and it is a pretty boring performance. The acting isnít all that important though, because this is a strong horror/action film. Sean Pertwee and Kevin McKidd are the two main military men in this film and they are strong in the terms of their action. They come across as extremely intense. The whole military team is intense as well, and the action sequences are a little bit hokey and the werewolves donít look extremely great at times and at times they look very good.

Visually this is a decent film. It struggles at times do to the small budget that it had with visual effects but Marshall does a good job of creating a dark and intense creature feature. This, along with The Descent shows that Marshall really knows how shoot a horror film and how to show it off. I love the fact that it is set in a tiny little area, I think that it is a good thing for a horror film, the sense of feeling trapped makes it much more intense. It also helps that this isnít a teen driven film, so many horror films, since they are targeted towards teens, end up being full of teens and just annoying everyone watching the film.

This is a B horror film, but it is a very good B horror film. It doesnít rely stupid slasher action sequences or annoying deformed human monsters that show up in so many horror films. Neil Marshall is definitely a one of the better horror directors out there and I look forward to see more of his work, which should be coming out next year. One of the better werewolf films outt here, so it is definitely worth checking out.

This film is really the American version of Shaun of the Dead. I know that some people will not like that, but a zombie comedy film, it is hard not to make comparisons between the two films. They are both good in their own ways, but Zombieland has the standard to live up to, whereas Shaun of the Dead didnít.

The story follows Columbus, a loner college student who has managed to survive the zombie apocalypse and is now fighting his way back to Columbus, Ohio. Columbus isnít his real name, it is where he is from originally, but no one goes by their real names. He is one of few who have survived in the world of zombies because of being fairly anal about a list of rules. The first rule is cardio because, as Columbus puts it, the first to go were the fatties. They continue on with beware of bathrooms and always doubletap. He meets up with Tallahassee, man without a care in the world who seems to basically love taking out zombies. A contender for the zombie killer of the week. Together they set out across the country where they run into Wichita and Little Rock, two girls who have been conning their way across the country, trying to relive a happy memory of Little Rockís of an amusement park. They steal Tallahasseeís vehicle and their weapons and take off. Columbus and Tallahassee track them down and they all go off to Los Angeles together and Columbus falls for Wichita.

When it comes down to it, there isnít a ton of a story to this film, it really is more about the characters and how to survive a zombie apocalypse than anything. The performances are pretty good. Jesse Eisenberg plays his typical role of the kind of nice guy who doesnít have much of any motivation of cares. It is a very predictable role for him, but one that he fills in well. The star stealing performance is by Woody Harrelson who is Tallahassee. Someone who can take out zombies with the flair that he does has to be a favorite character from the film. Harrelson is someone who does a bunch of odd films, but really can play a wide variety of roles. Emma Stone, from Superbad, and Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, fill out the other two main characters. The rest of the talent doesnít show up all that much because besides these four we only meet one or two other humans and they donít last long. Stone and Breslin both do solid jobs in their roles, but the zombie violence and the focus on Columbus in this film really donít give them as much to work with. The other performance that people love is the cameo by Bill Murray (albeit a short lived one). He delivers one of the better lines in the film as well and he is playing Bill Murray in the film.

Visually this film has some great zombie killings. They range from the pretty normal (shooting them) to the completely absurd (dropping a piano on top of them). Ruben Fleischer does a good job with this film and what he is given. He gets good performances and he keeps the action moving along nicely. The amount he has to work with in terms of story, which is really just the vehicle for zombie killing. I think that is the biggest difference between Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. Shaun of the Dead creates more of a story and focuses on an almost more sophisticated (or maybe off the wall subtler type of humor) whereas Zombieland is pretty straight forward with itís humor and focus more on the action.

This is definitely a good film and is a funny film in its own rights. I personally prefer Shaun of the Dead just for the type of humor that it is, but the fact that there is a Zombieland 2 in the works is a good thing. If they get the whole cast to return, Iíll likely check it out in theaters. Definitely a very funny film.